Party! Party!! Party!!!

7 in 7 Day 2 (but I must have hit Save instead of Publish! Boo!! Fixed, but still . . . )

So, it's nearly been a month, but I'm finally sitting down to write a little bit about Clare's 1st Birthday party!

We celebrated Clare's birthday with family and a couple of friends (*cough*Andi*cough*) the weekend before we hightailed it for the humidity Midwest, so that our loved ones could watch her demolish cake.

Being me, I decided to have a patriotic-themed birthday party. It had several advantages: 1) it was seasonal, so I got lots of fun decorations at the Dollar Tree for not too much dinero; 2) excuse to dress myself my kid in red, white and blue; 3) food = 4th of July BBQ. And by BBQ, I mean grilling out with family and friends. No sauce, rub, or style debates to be had.

I made the menu with cheezy patriotic food names: Patriotic Pasta Salad, Freedom Fruit Salad, etc. I've never claimed to be cool.
 
My sweet sister helped out with planning, decorations, and getting ev-er-y-thing done Saturday morning. Could.Not. have done it without her. Could.Not. I love that girl.

It was only like 115 the day of the party (summer birthdays are not the same kind of fun in Phoenix as other parts of the country!). Sweltering. Poor Charles manned the grill with the company of my cousin. The rest of us enjoyed the A/C and the yummies. We opened presents. Clare smashed cake.

It was lovely!

 Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!!

(Photo credits to BG/Rhonda! Love you and thank you!)